The whispers have been going ’round for a while, but on Wednesday night they burst into the open, after the second debate: Democrats are worried none of their candidates can defeat Donald Trump.

“Is it possible that the Democrats have an overflow of talent but no one who’s precisely right?” wrote Frank Bruni of the New York Times.

Pundits on CNN looked dismayed: all of the frontrunners emerged bruised from the debates, and remain hopelessly left-wing.

Some want former first lady Michelle Obama to joint the presidential race before it is too late. Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore — who predicted Trump’s victory in 2016 — declared in an extended rant on MSNBC that Michelle Obama is the “one person that would crush Trump.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, August 2nd, Congressman Andy Harris, M.D. (MD-01) announced two awards of $12,950 and $50,000 for rural business development. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sponsored the awards. The award of $12,950 will go toward “155 commercial and/or office space businesses within city limits” of Crisfield and “will be used to obtain consultant assistance with marketing small businesses in the Arts & Entertainment District within the city,” according to the USDA. The award of $50,000 “will be used to provide technical assistance to small and emerging businesses” in Pocomoke City, according to the USDA.

Congressman Harris made the following statement on the USDA awards:

“The award of these federal grants to our local art and entertainment businesses in Crisfield as well as the promotion of business and city improvements in Pocomoke are important to our communities in the First District. I support and applaud efforts from the USDA to grow our economy here in Somerset and Worcester Counties.”

Home-improvement chain Lowe's told thousands of workers this week that their roles were being eliminated and that the company was outsourcing maintenance, assembly and janitorial services, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Maintenance staff and assemblers were notified that they were being laid off, according to employees, and that their roles are going to be outsourced to third-party companies. Every Lowe’s store has several staff members that work in assembly and manufacturing. Workers are being told that they can reapply for other open positions at the company, but they’re not guaranteed the same pay.

Lowe's employed 90,000 full-time and 110,000 part time workers as of February 1. The company has about 2,000 stores in the United States.

Prosecutors say the Seattle software engineer arrested over the hacking of Capital One repeatedly boasted about the hack and has threatened to “shoot up” a California social media company.

Paige Thompson, 33, a former Amazon employee, was caught by authorities after leaving an extensive digital footprint of her alleged crime on the Internet, including boasting about it in online posts, authorities said. She’s now charged with one count of computer fraud and abuse.

Capital One said Monday that Thompson – who according to an FBI complaint also goes by the handle “erratic” – got information including credit scores and balances plus the Social Security numbers of about 140,000 customers, the bank said.

Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen are demanding tens of millions of dollars in ransom cash to permit environmentalists to rescue a "structurally deteriorating" offshore oil tanker and prevent a humanitarian disaster that would be far worse than the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, in a tense standoff that critics are likening to "eco-terrorism."

At this point, no one has agreed to pay off the Houthis, though the demand for hard cash is not inconceivable given the scant global blowback the Obama administration received in 2015 when it sent $1.7 billion in cash pallets to Tehran in order to secure freedom for several Americans imprisoned there.

Deploying a ransom tactic used by their Iranian patrons, the Houthi rebels are demanding $80 million to permit United Nations teams to inspect the deserted SAFER tanker, which has been stranded in waters near Yemen and is viewed by experts as a "floating bomb."

Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said one particular memo that former FBI Director James Comey gave to agents one month after being fired should never have made it to his house.

FBI documents unveiled this week show special agents arriving at Comey's home in June 2017 to collect his memos, which were largely contemporaneous notes on the former FBI director's interactions with President Trump during the transition period and early months of his administration.

This FBI log showed, "Comey observed that the second page of the memo dated March 30, 2017 , had the incorrect banner line classification of SECRET//NOFORN rather than UNCLASSIFIED//FOUO at the top and bottom of the second page."

A sweltering July day was just the backdrop to a much bigger issue when a stranded mother and her child were brought to the Maryland State Police Berlin Barrack by a good Samaritan.

Brenda Kelly, police communications supervisor for the Berlin barrack, said a woman told police she had seen the mother and a 2-month- old baby girl standing in the median of Route 50 in front of the Walmart on July 21, when temperatures reached a high of 98 degrees.

Kelly said the woman recognized their plight, picked them up and brought them to the station.

“I think she just saw this young girl with a small child,” Kelly said. “She didn’t know where else to go and this seemed to be the safest place.”

Kelly recalled the young mother and child (their identities are being withheld) entering the station visibly upset.

The Maryland and District of Columbia attorneys general have their hands full with their prosecutorial duties even without their litigation against President Trump, and that’s where a Soros-funded progressive advocacy group comes in.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW] is providing pro bono legal help for the 2017 lawsuit filed by Maryland and the District alleging that Mr. Trump has violated the domestic and foreign emoluments clauses of the U.S. Constitution with his hotel properties used by public officials and foreign governments.

The lawsuit is on shaky ground — the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed it two weeks ago, although prosecutors continue to pursue the case — but CREW’s involvement has raised concerns on the right about activists infiltrating the offices of the states’ top law-enforcement authorities.

Attorneys general are typically permitted to hire outside counsel on cases requiring specialization, but it’s one thing to hire a private law firm, and it’s another to bring in a group like CREW, said Chris Horner, an attorney with the public-interest law firm Government Accountability & Oversight.

He called the partnership “in keeping with the weaponization of law-enforcement offices.”

“If AGs are using private resources to do what they otherwise would not be doing, then you have a problem, in that they are letting out a law enforcement office to donors and activists,” said Mr. Horner, whose firm runs the Climate Litigation Watch website.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz is preparing a "damning report"on former FBI director James Comey's conduct and has referred him for possible prosecution under the classified information protection laws, the Hill's John Solomon reported Wednesday night. Unfortunately, Solomon is reporting that Department of Justice prosecutors under Attorney General William Barr have decided not to prosecute Comey for the alleged infractions.

According to Solomon's sources, the IG report will conclude that Comey "leaked classified information and showed a lack of candor," but DOJ prosecutors declined to bring charges because they didn't think they had enough evidence to prove that Comey intended to violate the law.

It won't be lost on conservatives that "lack of evidence of intent" is the same rationale Comey used to let Hillary Clinton off the hook for violating the Espionage Act when she mishandled classified information on her home-brew email server while secretary of State.

My friend Mike Nadler emails an idea so good that I wonder if it is being planned by President Trump. It would be a way of turning on its head the phony accusation that MAGA is about returning to the days of segregation and provide justification for his criticisms of Elijah Cummings for doing nothing to help his most beleaguered constituents.

Mike writes:

How about Trump kicking off a campaign to help Baltimore with a big speech with the explicit theme "Make Baltimore Great Again!"? With MBGA hats and all. He can paint a picture of how bad things have gotten there using statistics and quotes from an array of Democrats ranging from the former Baltimore mayor who talked about smelling the rats to Bernie Sanders comparing it to a Third World country, to the New York Times story, "The Tragedy of Baltimore."

He could then go on to propose a major program (or at least a study commission) to help it in the way we help some cities after natural disasters along with leadership changes.

Thirty-two people were arrested in an alleged food stamp fraud scheme at a Texas restaurant that involved 62 people in June 2019, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office released a list of 32 people who have been arrested since prosecutors indicted 62 people on counts of electronic benefits transfer fraud

The alleged ringleader of the scheme, restaurant owner Johnny Ray Coleman, was accused of using $71,000 worth of food stamp benefits to purchase food he then sold at Coleman’s Burger Deli in Beaumont, Texas, LMT Online reported.

Coleman was arrested and then later released on bond.

He is one of 62 people who took part in an elaborate food stamp fraud scheme using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, prosecutors said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee debated the Secure and Protect Act of 2019 on Thursday, a bil that was introduced earlier this summer by Chairman Lindsey Graham. The legislation aims to stop the current border security crisis and rampant asylum fraud. Republicans voted to get the bill out of Committee before the Senate adjourns for August recess later today.

Democrats objected to the move and argued the legislation should be held over for Committee consideration until September when lawmakers get back into town. In other words, they're happy to head home for a five week long vacation without solving the ongoing crisis at the border. Graham was having none of it. The final vote was 12-10.More

Recently released government data reveals that college officials are among the highest-paid public employees in Virginia. 80 percent of the state’s top earners work at a university or college.

According to data published by the Richmond-Times Dispatch, a large portion of Virginia’s highest-paid government employees work in academia. In fact, approximately 80 percent of the state’s top earners work at a university or college.

The highest-paid government employee in Virginia is Michael Rao, who earns approximately $1 million annually in his role as the president of Virginia Commonwealth University. James E. Ryan, the president of the University of Virginia trails just behind Rao, earning $962,875 each year.

Many of the state’s top earners are in academia, specifically in the role of university president. Timothy D. Sands, the president of Virginia Tech, for example, earns $775,000 annually.

A women’s rights group demanded action after a transgender weightlifter dominated a recent tournament and is free to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics.

The controversy stems from Laurel Hubbard’s performance at the Games in Samoa earlier this month, where she won two golds and a silver in three of the women’s heavyweight categories.

Women’s rights groups say that Hubbard, who competed for New Zealand in men’s weightlifting before her transition in her thirties, is having an “unfair” advantage against women and shouldn’t be allowed to compete in the Olympics in the women’s category.

New Zealand-based lobby group “Speak Up For Women” called on the country’s Olympic committee and sports minister to “defend women’s sport,” Reuters reported.

OCEAN CITY — A local man was arrested on theft charges last week after allegedly pinching money from a business’s safe where he worked.

Around 6:30 p.m. last Friday, an Ocean City Police Department (OCPD) officer responded to a nightclub on 17th Street to investigate an alleged theft. The officer met with the club owner, who advised he suspected a member of his security staff of stealing money from a safe in the office on the first floor.

The business owner told police he noticed roughly $3,000 missing from the safe on Sunday, July 21. The owner told the investigating officer he suspected the money had been taken Saturday, July 20 or early Sunday, July 21. The owner told police after he discovered the theft, he bought a security camera and installed it in the ceiling of the office where the safe is located.

The business owner told police he suspected the culprit would strike again and hoped to catch the suspect with the surveillance camera. Last Friday, the business owner made copies of $900 he put in the safe and waited for the suspect to strike again. Sure enough, the suspect, Chad Cirigliano, 40, of Berlin, was captured on surveillance video entering the office and manipulating the safe around 6:55 p.m. on Friday, July 26.

SALISBURY – Officials this week selected District 2 resident Nicole Acle to fill a vacant seat on the Wicomico County Council.

On Monday, the Wicomico County Council held a special meeting to appoint a nominee to fill the District 2 seat vacated by Marc Kilmer. Among the candidates for District 2 were Nicole Acle, Julie Brewington, Joseph Collins and Mark McIver.

Councilman Larry Dodd made a motion to appoint Collins to the vacant seat, which was seconded by Councilman Joe Holloway.

“Many of the conversations I’ve had were in support of Mr. Collins,” Dodd said. “I think he would be a good nominee.”

The giant Democratic food fight between the liberal establishment and The Squad -- or "AOC plus three," as the president nicknamed them -- was a battle among unpopular politicians. A new national survey from Emerson measured the favorability ratings of all five women engaged in that (currently paused) brawl, and found public perceptions of each of them deep underwater. Here are the fresh numbers for the Speaker of the House, followed by the four lightning rod Congressional freshmen:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a 28% favorable opinion and a 46% unfavorable opinion. The House “squad,” consisting of Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Illan Omar and Ayanna Pressley share this image problem. Ocasio-Cortez is at 30% favorable and 47% unfavorable, Tlaib is at 26% favorable and 42% unfavorable, Omar is at 25% favorable and 46% unfavorable, and Pressley is at 24% favorable and 35% unfavorable.

So Pelosi pulls a net (-18), AOC is at (-17), and Omar is at (-21). The more junior Squadsters are less known, but remain upside-down by double digits. Interestingly, Ocasio-Cortez registers the highest favorable rating at just 30 percent, with all of the other named Democrats mired in the 20's. Among only Democratic voters, Pelosi's favorability is just about on par with the Squad's, though AOC (+37) beats the Speaker (+33) head-to-head on this measure:

The liberal media has egg on their faces for claiming that Trump lied about being down at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks. Despite video evidence that has been floating around on the internet for years, they just couldn't help themselves. It's curious, however, that the candidate that they all wanted to win in 2016, Hillary Clinton, actually did lie about where she was on 9/11 in order to insert herself into it.In an address Tuesday evening in Sanford, Florida, Hillary Clinton said: “I was in New York City on 9/11 as one of two senators. I will defeat ISIS.”

Except she wasn’t in New York City. She was in Washington, D.C., as Congress was still in session. The next day, as transportation allowed, Mrs. Clinton traveled to New York to access the damage with then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. She then worked as a senator to get benefits and aids for 9/11 victims.

On Monday, when President Trump signed the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund extension, he told a story of being at Ground Zero after the 9/11 terror attacks, that immediately got unhinged liberals coming out of the woodwork to claim he was lying. Kyle Griffin, a producer at MSNBC, actually claimed there was no evidence Trump was ever at Ground Zero after 9/11:

Trump claims without evidence to an audience that includes 9/11 first responders: "I was down there [at Ground Zero] also, but I'm not considering myself a first responder, but I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you."

A recently laid off Arizona man handed out his resume in the triple-digit heat at a busy Phoenix intersection last week, generating multiple job offers.

Patrick Hoagland had recently been laid off from his old job at a metal recycling company, and had no luck when completing online applications and submitting his resume to local businesses, CNN reports.

A driver noticed Hoagland and expressed her thoughts on Twitter, saying, “I was driving down Camelback Rd in Phx near my office and saw this guy on the side of the road with a smile in 110-degree heat, with a sign asking people to take his resume. I love that he was not asking for a handout, just for people to consider him for a job. #pleaseshare #job”

Liberals are insane. That’s not news, at least to anyone who watched even clips from the Democratic debates this week. They promised a unicorn that poops gold while paying for your health care and college, giving you a high-paying job and foot rubs at will. If you completely ignore the reality of the hell on earth their socialistic policies would create, it sounded wonderful.

But you can’t ignore reality with these people. Any of them. It’s reality they want to “fundamentally transform.” To do that they’re not only willing destroy what exists now, they have to destroy it.

Leftists are very open about this. They want to “tear down” the system – health care, capitalism, etc., you name it. By “tear down” they mean decimate. Most people like their health care and support capitalism, and the country, so they’re unlikely to willingly allow its “transformation” to something else.

In response to President Trump slamming Maryland's Rep. Elijah Cummings for letting Baltimore become a crime-ridden, "rat and rodent infested mess," activist Al Sharpton announced Monday that he'd be visiting the city in solidarity with the Democrat and the Baltimore community. Trump responded by taking aim at Sharpton in a blistering tweet: "Al is a con man, a troublemaker, always looking for a score. Just doing his thing. Must have intimidated Comcast/NBC. Hates Whites & Cops!"

That tweet in turn prompted Democrats, including some Democrat presidential candidates — among them former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (MA), Sen. Kamala Harris (CA), and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio — to come to Sharpton's defense. And they did more than just defend him; they praised him as "a champion in the fight for civil rights," as Biden put it. Sharpton even got a shot out at the start of the CNN-hosted debates Tuesday, Democrat National Committee Chairman Tom Perez celebrating his "leadership."

After the flood of effusive praise from the Democrat leadership, The Washington Post published an op-ed Thursday by Washington Examiner executive editor Seth Mandel seeking to set the record straight on the Democrat-lauded activist.

"Al Sharpton is not a lifelong fighter for justice," Mandel writes. Though Democrats are rushing to elevate him to stick it to Trump, Sharpton has "never reckoned with his past anti-Semitic rhetoric."

"Calling Sharpton a life-long fighter for 'justice' ignores his history of race-baiting and deadly anti-Semitic incitement," Mandel writes, before laying out some of the devastating details from Sharpton's past that he's never been forced to fully address and that Democrats have nearly uniformly whitewashed.

I had friends there last night when the fire broke out, unreal. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Staff as this is a devastating time of year for something like this to happen. If there's anything we can do from Caribbean Joe's don't hesitate to ask.

WASHINGTON -- Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan told a Senate committee on Tuesday that 5,800 "fake families" have been discovered trying to enter the U.S. illegally this year.

"Our laws prevent us from holding people more than 20 days and because we can't get the information we're probably releasing them even sooner than that in many cases, correct?" Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) asked Morgan during a Senate Homeland Security hearing on the border crisis.

"With respect to family units, since March of this year, United States Border Patrol has been releasing family units directly so in some cases they're being released in under 48 hours into the interior of the United States," Morgan said.

Johnson replied, "Because it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to try and find facilities to hold them for 20 days with this overwhelming flow so instead of border patrol turning them over to ICE for a more thorough vetting process and then ICE releasing them, border patrol is doing it directly?"

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) jumped into action after a New York Times editor slammed AOC's progressive Democrat 'Squadmates' Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) as not representative of the Midwest.

In a now-deleted tweet, New York Times deputy Washington editor Jonathan Weisman responded to a comment by Justice Democrats spokesman Waleed Shahid - who was opining on a debate comment made by 2020 Democratic candidate Claire McCaskill (D-MO) that "free stuff from the government doesn't play well in the Midwest."

Weisman replied, suggesting that saying Tlaib and Omar are from the Midwest "is like saying @RepLloydDoggett (D-Austin) is from Texas or @repjohnlewis (D-Atlanta) is from the Deep South" (which they are).